


The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Track by Track with Murdoc Niccals

by nancymoron



Series: Music with Murdoc [1]
Category: Gorillaz
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Inappropriate Humor, Inspired by Music, Murdoc Niccals Needs a Hug, POV First Person, literal album review idk what to tell you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29036730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nancymoron/pseuds/nancymoron
Summary: As I’m sure just about anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock since the 60s knows: water is wet, the earth is round, the sky is blue, andZiggy played guitar.Murdoc talks about one of his favourite albums.
Series: Music with Murdoc [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2130219
Kudos: 3





	The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Track by Track with Murdoc Niccals

**Author's Note:**

> hi!! here's something i wrote for fun back in june 2018 and never published because it's not really a fic. it's in the style of the track by track reviews he did of plastic beach and the singles collection back in the day!! i'm very proud of this. it's very subtext heavy as is everything murdoc ever says, but i think i did a good job. one of my friends made me print it out and sign it in character and then she framed it and put it up on her wall? wish i was joking, it just lives there now. immortalised. i have another one of these i did of damon's album everyday robots which i might also post if people like this ^^
> 
> i would definitely recommend listening to the album as an accompaniment, especially if you haven't heard it before!! you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfrOlB6pXNI

This was actually one of the first albums I fell in love with, actually! Not _just_ in love, like— _really_ in love, with the music and the story behind it. But then, all music tells a story, doesn’t it? You just have to be willing to lend an ear and listen. Now, this one came out when I was eight and if I'm remembering correctly, it set me back about 45p that I nicked off of my brother. He didn’t approve.

**Five Years.**

This one is a nice little number to open the album, if I do say so myself. It’s bleak, melancholy... Really does what it sets out to achieve. The earth’s resources are being used up and there’s just five years left before the planet somehow decides 'bugger it' and ends all of our sorry lives. It does a great job of setting the scene with the lyrics, doesn’t it? Bustling streets full of panicking mothers and fearful children, all shaken by the news that they’re all going to die. I picture this song as being sung on a rainy day, one of those times where the clouds are black, the thunder rolls in and it seems like the world’s about to end with no reprieve. Desperate, innit? And it didn’t need much to sound like that, just a simple drumbeat, a good voice, and good strings.

**Soul Love.**

Continuing on with the bleak melancholy theme that haunts this banger of an album, we have Soul Love. Maybe I'm biased, but I love the bassline to this one. It took me a while to learn it when I was a kid, but oh was it worth it! This is one of love and death, and the saxophone really secured it as a favourite in my heart. Did you know that Bowie only played this one twice during the initial tour? It’s a real shame if you ask me, but that just makes it all the more special when you actually do hear it.

**Moonage Daydream.**

This one is definitely a highlight! It really sounds alien, with a funky backing track and even funkier lyrics. It really is a testament to the talent of Bowie and the genre of glam rock itself. " _Freak out in a Moonage Daydream, ooh yeah!"_ Love that. Absolutely love that. The bridge is unexpected and wacky and ties the song together nicely. You wouldn’t expect to hear a flute on a track like this, would you? But Bowie pulls it off nicely. Unfortunately this is one of them songs that demand a billion covers by a billion not-so-talented washed up musicians, but I don’t think I’ve heard one yet that really captures the raw atmosphere of the original.

**Starman.**

I’ll start with the obvious first thoughts: it’s a bit overplayed, isn’t it? Well, of course it is! A song this good was destined to be played a thousand times until people grew sick of it and left it for the next generation. here we have the introduction of the Starman, who’s so desperate to meet us but he thinks he’ll scare us away. Of course, humans are naturally a bit scared of the idea of extra-terrestrial life. I remember, when I was just a little tot, I believed what the song sold to me, and I used to sit by my bedroom window at night and look up to the stars, imagining that maybe I’d see Ziggy’s ship if I was patient and quiet enough. It’s a nice image, isn’t it? It really tells you about the power and effect that music can have— especially on kids. _"Let the children boogie!"_

**It Ain't Easy.**

When I was little I used to think the verse for this song was a harpsichord or something. But no, I was a tiny little fool! It’s actually a really, _really_ distorted acoustic guitar. The more you know, right? This song was revolutionary and certainly stands out from the rest of the songs that had come before. Satan only knows where Bowie picked this one up— he didn’t write it and really he just nabbed it off of someone else. But does the original artist get credit? _No,_ not really. If you’d ask anyone, they’ll tell you it was all Bowie. What a legacy, eh? People believe what they want to. It Ain't Easy was actually written by a good man named Ron Davies, look him up on your googley webs!

**Lady Stardust.**

And on we go to side B of the record! Oh, this was the one he wrote for Marc Bolan, wasn’t it? I love the piano in this one, I spent ages learning it. My old man was glad that I was focusing on something other than my guitar— he’d never really approved of my interests. I don’t really know what this one was about but I think in those early days, I saw myself in it. I could have been a bit of a Lady Stardust, couldn’t I? I reckon I would have made a good glam rock sensation out of myself. Shame I was a bit too young at the time. Anyway, I reckon it’s the little things that make this song, like the steady beat of the tambourine in the background. It’s nothing you’d notice unless it was pointed out, but it really makes the song.

**Star.**

Star’s a bit jazzy, a bit rock and roll. It feels like the kind of song you could dance to, and trust me... I have. I think I know the words to this one off by heart, and it’s actually one of the few songs that my brother, Hannibal actually liked as well. It’s not really his style, but he’d dance with me when we could both get away with it. I think this was the song that convinced me that I could be a rock and roll star, actually. I mean, it was just an all-round good influence. I don’t think I’d heard anything that captured the same emotion before this came out, and I don’t think I’ll ever hear something that feels the same again. It feels like dancing at a party, the taste of sweat against flesh and the exhaustion that comes with being fatigued and out of breath afterwards.

**Hang Onto Yourself.**

After Lady Stardust, the album gets just a bit faster, doesn’t it? Hang Onto Yourself continues with this theme; nimble fingers on bass and a good, repetitive riff from the electric guitar. This one is quick, but in a different way from Star. This one, to me, sounds like being lead astray even though you ought to know better, of giving into your most carnal desires for the sake of rock ‘n’ roll. This one’s more punky— and it actually did influence punk music, unsurprisingly! You can hear the sound of this just a bit in Teenage Lobotomy by The Ramones.

**Ziggy Stardust.**

Here we go, we’re at the behemoth himself. Ziggy Stardust, as I've said, was the most imaginative living dead musician there ever was and ever will be. I’d be lying if I said he wasn’t an absolute inspiration to a rather young Murdoc Niccals. Well, most of it anyway. I wanted a persona like that, larger than life and amazing on guitar. Dunno about the being murdered by his own success part. Hmmmm … Doesn’t sound as desirable. As far as tempos go, it’s a rather brief break from the fast songs before and after it. I think it gives you a bit of insight into Ziggy himself, perhaps. This song is iconic as I’m sure just about anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock since the 60s knows: water is wet, the earth is round, the sky is blue, and _Ziggy played guitar._

**Suffragette City.**

Back to full speed once again. This one really presents me with a vivid image. It’s like… Being on the bus, but you don’t think that bus is ever gonna stop. But then the bus _does_ stop, and as soon as you set foot on the pavement you’re whisked away immediately to have great, fast-paced sex with some hot woman you can’t bring yourself to care about. Was that the _intention_ of the song? No, probably not, I don’t know. But that’s the image it invokes in my twisted mind, I suppose. _"Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am!"_

**Rock 'n' Roll Suicide.**

Finally we come to the end of the album and the fast pace of Suffragette City is gone. The chaos has slowed to a near halt and we’re left with the melancholy of Five Years once more, ending the album as it had begun. This one really is about death and how rock will tear you apart if you let it. This was the end of Ziggy’s career and he had indeed let himself become that image of a washed up rock star, and it destroys him. Coincidentally enough, it was the final song they played at the end of the tour. This song killed the man and they had to break up the band, because Ziggy Stardust was no more, and had left David Bowie in his wake. I reckon I identified with this one greatly.

**Final Thoughts.**

Is this a great album? Oh, yes. Does it deserve the credit it gets for revolutionising modern music? Without a doubt. You see, without this album, I don’t think glam rock as a genre would have been nearly as popular, nor would it have stood the test of time. Hm… Do I think that this was Bowie’s peak? I don’t know, I’ve never known. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. Either way you can’t deny that they really don’t make ‘em like this anymore, and it’s a relic of a time where things were just a bit simpler, but still just as grim. Everything changes, but some things stay the same— this album being one of said things.


End file.
